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Results tagged ‘ beat the streak report ’

The beat goes on for “gfc2112”, as our red-hot leader rode Drew’s solo
blast to a 36-game streak. The next 21 days will hopefully be quite the
exciting time in Streakland, as users have quietly watched their dreams
of gold-plated ponies and private islands dim by the day.

Will “gfc2112” have the sheer will and determination to keep this party going and supplant Mr. BTS, Dick George, in the process?

Will “gfc2112” flashdance with fate and answer the e-mail I just sent him?

Only time will tell.

Oh, I’d also like to give a shoutout to “ponyforkeana” for taking the bull by the horns and providing the BTS blog world with all the streak knowledge and goodness one needs with his little countdown posted in the comments.

I’d like to thank Ian for pinch-hitting for me on Friday, and while it
wasn’t quite an African Safari, I was stuck in traffic for four hours
near Scranton, Pennsylvania around midnight last night. Which is even
more fun than it sounds.

Anyway, it was a pretty solid Sunday all around in Streakland, as
Robinson Cano, Joe Mauer, Adrian Beltre, Ichiro Suzuki, Nick Markakis
and Miguel Cabrera each laced hits to keep the gravy train going for
38.5 percent of the galaxy.

My condolences to those 3.4 percent who selected Delmon Young and are now officially out of the running for the $3,000,000.

But, alas, all is not lost for you fine folks. Even though you won’t be
closing out the campaign a BTS legend, reading books about yourself and
books about books about yourself, you still have time to win $10,000 and
beat out the ineffable name — Dick George — and his 43-game streak.

Since I’m not eligible to win the $3 million Beat the Streak grand prize, I might as well try to help you out. Every weekday, make sure to check out the Beat the Streak Report to improve your odds with all the stats goodness you could ever dream of. You know, assuming you could use an extra three mill.

August 6-8

Dave finally pulled the trigger on that African safari he’s been dreaming about for years, so it’s Ian Kay here to take you through the weekend.

Why should you listen to me? Well, I did put together a nice little 29-game streak from June 27-July 26. You listen to Dave every day and his career high is like 11 games — I expect 2.64 times the respect.

My philosophy on this here Beat the Streak game is pretty simple: it’s process of elimination.

Never pick against a pitcher with good enough stuff to potentially throw a no-hitter — You could give me 1941 Ted Williams and I’d still pick someone else if Josh Johnson was on the mound.

Only use elite hitters — I lost my streak with Carlos Gonzalez. He was easily the worst overall hitter I picked in any of those 30 days. Oops.

Check the splits — Hey, did you know Josh Hamilton is hitting .260 against lefties this season? Or that Martin Prado bats .276 on the road?

Maximize your at-bats — No platoon guys, nobody who walks a ton and no hitters without enough lineup protection to avoid being pitched around. It’s all fun and games until Matt Diazgets lifted in the seventh inning because there’s a right-handed reliever on the mound.

None of those rules are exactly groundbreaking, but follow them and you’ll be left with three or four solid options per day.

Of course, it’s not foolproof. CarGo looked pretty good again yesterday before going 0-for-4 and burning 13.3 percent of all gamers in the process. I feel your pain, folks. Believe me, I do.

Sunday is the final day to start a streak with a chance to reach 57 games before the end of the season. With that in mind, let’s go Streaking…

Our co-leaders, “gfc2112” and “randy.zimmer”, have each reached the 30-game plateau and earned a free month of MLB.tv for their trouble. They can thank Andre Ethier and Joe Mauer for that, respectively.

Just hang on for three more weeks plus six days and the big prize is yours, guys.

It was an absolute, certifiable, kid-tested, mother-approved, all-you-can-eat Gravy Train Wednesday in Streakland.

A festively plump 14 of the day’s 15 most popular selections each got
hits, flash forwarding the streaks of 58 percent of the BTS galaxy.

Rickie Weeks was the day’s Mr. Freeze, as his 0-for-5 performance ice blasted 1.7 percent of the field, Mortal Kombat-style.

You know what — I’ll take the blame for that. I had no business putting
a lifetime .252 hitter up on the Picks of the Day page, even if his
numbers vs. the opposing pitcher were certifiably stellar. Whoopshies!

One day after a stagnation nation stymied streaks across the hemisphere, Streakers recovered in a big way.

Six of the seven most popular selections from Tuesday each laced hits,
combining to extend the streaks of almost 30 percent of the wondrous
world wide web.

Atta boy!

Tuesday’s biggest doomsday device came in the form of Troy Tulowizki,
whose 0-for-3 night shocked and awed 4.7 percent of the field.

Two things before we get to Wednesday’s picks:

1) My mistake in featuring Johnny Damon as a Pick of the Day yesterday.
Totally forgot that the Tigers had a doubleheader. Yes, I’m a Tigers
fan. This is what happens when you give up on your team after they get
obliterated by injuries and field Minor Leaguers for weeks at a time.

2) No, you can’t really combine your streaks with others and split the $3,000,000. Well, you can’t anymore.
I eliminated that option once I realize that my highest streak was so
small no one would ever want to join forces with me. And if I can’t wear
gold-plated slippers the rest of my life, no one can.

It was a stagnant BTS Nation once again on Monday, as a jaw-dropping 23.5
percent of Streakers put on their floaties and treaded water for the
day thanks to an 0-for-0 performance from Joey Votto, who was withheld
from the lineup due to a sprained wrist.

Of course, the only thing worse than pressing the pause button on your
streak is pressing the reset button. Apparently, Robinson Cano did not
get this memo, as the Yankees second baseman went 0-for-3 to wipe away
the streaks of 12.3 percent of our users all by his lonesome self.

For those keeping track at home, that’s over 35 percent of Streakland who did not pass “Go”, or collect $200.

Robinson Cano and Ichiro Suzuki tagteamed for an 0-fer of doom for
Streakers nationwide on Sunday, obliterating the streaks of 12.3 percent
of all users in their destructive paths.

But the fun don’t stop there.

In a strange turn of events, Andre Ethier, Joe Mauer, Martin Prado and
Josh Hamilton were each vacant from their squads’ respective lineups,
pressing the pause button on a combined 15.7 percent of all Streakers.

Did they all join Amare Stoudemire in the Dead Sea? Because that’s a lot of floating around.

Will our Streakers be able to bounce back in a short 10-game-slate
Monday? Or will they toil in the misery of slumpville along with Don
Draper and Albert Haynesworth?

It’s truly been a pleasure dancing with you, hand-in-hand, during our
blissful 39-day journey. This is no time to regret your mistakes of the
past. Rather, this is a time of excitement as you head off on your new
odyssey.

Just remember that every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

Joe Mauer’s 2-for-4 afternoon teleported “richard.jucksch” — our
leader — and his streak from 37 games to 38. Jucksch is now six days
away from taking the conch from the immortal Dick George atop our
season-long Beat the Streak Leaderboard.

Perhaps more importantly, Jucksch is still ignoring me and my e-mail,
likely — and understandably — in fear of jinxing his impressive run.

This brings up an interesting internal dilemma:

Given the historical data and precedent, it’s unlikely Jucksch will
actually Beat the Streak. I mean, I don’t mean to be the Debbie Downer
here but I’ve read this story too many times and have seen how this one
turns out. Just ask Ian Kay.

So unless this somehow transforms into one of those mind-blowing “Choose
Your Own Adventure” books I was obsessed with as a 10-year-old,
Jucksch’s 15 minutes of (relative) fame is squarely on the clock.

Which brings us to the dilemma: Should Jucksch accept his likely fate
and decide to play nice in the sandbox with me and respond to my e-mail
while his story is still relatively relevant?

Or, should he go for the gold, keep up his mime impression and laugh at the face of the several jinxes before him?

A full nine games behind Juksch is “Grumps1945”, who is sitting pretty with a 29-game streak.

If 1945 represents the year Grumps was born, that most likely makes him
65-years-old. My dad is right around that age and the thought that he’d
be able to dominate this game at this juncture is borderline
mind-blowing to me. So keep it up Grumps!

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